Warriors fold against Cowboys
Four-try blitz just before and after break too much for erratic team
Another week, another Warriors humiliation.
After a gutsy win against the Bulldogs last weekend, the Auckland club couldn’t back it up, smashed 48-4 by the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville last night.
Like so many of their matches this season, the contest was over by halftime, when two quick tries before the break extended the home team’s lead to 20 points.
It continued a familiar pattern, with the Warriors failing to maintain their standards week to week. They were dominated at the ruck, loose on defence and out of sync on attack, as the Cowboys scored eight tries and could have had more.
But the more obvious truth is the Warriors can’t currently compete with the big NRL teams.
The gulf in class is too great and accentuated with their lack of confidence, belief and cohesion.
This result will be particularly painful for Warriors faithful, as the different trajectories of the clubs couldn’t be more stark.
Both franchises have struggled in recent seasons and the Cowboys finished below the Warriors in 2020 and 2021. But while those days of woe are a distant memory for North Queensland, it’s a grim reality for the Warriors. The second-placed Cowboys are going places, while the Warriors are treading water.
North Queensland are fit, fast, focused and functional. They are well structured on attack and ruthless without the ball. The Warriors have their moments of effort and execution, but never for long enough.
There was little second-phase play and even less anticipation last night, especially off prop Addin FonuaBlake, as his regular efforts to poke through the line weren’t rewarded with a passing option.
But the main issue was defensive. After doing well to restrict the Cowboys to two tries in the first 36 minutes, everything collapsed, as they leaked four in the next 10 minutes.
Everything that is wrong with the Warriors was summed up by the first try, as Coen Hess isolated fullback Reece Walsh to power over. After a short goal line drop out had gone wrong, a simple pass from dummy half was enough to create the gap.
It soon got worse, as Murray Taulagi finished in the corner off a move that while slick, felt like a training ground manoeuvre.
Things threatened to go wrong really fast but the Warriors stemmed the tide for a period; they toughened their defence and worked into the arm wrestle.
Centre Marcelo Montoya went close — held up after soaring to take a Johnson bomb — before he was rewarded for persistence in the 33rd minute, following up after Ed Kosi kept a Daejarn Asi chip in play.
That should have been a chance to consolidate, but instead there was a lapse, triggered by Walsh shelling a Cowboys kick.
Jeremiah Nanai powered across a few plays later, before former Warrior Peta Hiku finished one of the team tries of the season, after the Warriors couldn’t shut down the ball a few seconds before halftime.
It’s the kind of brain fade that rarely happens with other teams but is a constant possibility with the Auckland club.
From there, it was all downhill. Dearden zipped over a minute after halftime through a yawning gap, then later completed his brace, with Luciano Leilua and Chad Townsend joining in the try feast.
Only a brilliant Dallin WateneZelezniak tackle to save a try — along with some wasteful play from the Cowboys — prevented the half century, while the Warriors twice went close to a late consolation try. Cowboys 48 (Coen Hess, Murray Taulagi, Jeremiah Nanai, Peta Hiku, Tom Dearden 2, Luciano Leilua, Chad Townsend tries; Valentine Holmes 7 cons, pen)
Warriors 4 (Marcelo Montoya try) Halftime: 24-4